Page 93 of Where We Met

“Thank you,” she says as I hand her a drink then join her.

“So…” I take a sip. “I guess we have some catching up to do.”

“I think so.”

“I’m trying to think of where to start.”

“Let’s start with what you said to my dad,” she replies quickly.

I smile. “Has it been eating you up?”

“Well, he wouldn’t let it out at lunch.” She throws a hand up in the air. “He said you would probably want to talk first.”

I nod my head in agreement. “True. I would like to be the one to talk about it first.”

Her eyes open wide, like she’s waiting for me to go on already.

“Okay,” I start. “Well, last night I got this email from the school about graduation today. I knew I wanted to be with you, for real, in every way possible,” I say, and her cheeks turn red. I reach up and run a finger down one of them, loving the combination of embarrassment and freshly fucked on her. “But I also knew you and your dad are close, and I would never want to be the one to change that. So, I decided weeks ago that if this was going to continue, I had to get his permission first. Graduation seemed like the perfect opportunity to get in front of him.”

“It was risky,” she admits.

“It was. He definitely could’ve yelled or refused to hear me out. But I was willing to risk the humiliation. I thought that if I just got in front of him, he could change his mind.”

“What did you say?”

I take a deep breath. This part feels scarier than talking with her dad. This is the part where I lay my feelings out there entirely, not knowing if she feels the same way yet.

“I told him that I love you.” She gasps, but I need to get it all out, so I continue. “I told him I’ve never met anyone like you. That from the moment I saw you, I knew you were different from everyone else I've ever met. That as I got to know you, I started to fall for everything about you. That what I love most about you is your heart. How you care so deeply for those around you, but how I want to be the one to show you that you deserve all the love in the world, because I don’t think you believe it fully yet. I told him that one day, with his blessing of course, I was going to marry you.”

There, I said it all. She has sunglasses so I can’t see her eyes, but I see tears start to drip underneath her lenses and run down her cheeks. I need to know if these are happy tears.

I reach up and pull her glasses off her face. Her beautiful green eyes are glistening, but she smiles at me.

“You said all of that?”

“I did.”

When her arms wrap around me and her head falls on my shoulder, my breaths start to come easier again. I wrap her up in my arms and enjoy her warmth.

“I love you, too,” she cries.

“You do?”

She pulls away. “Of course. Did you doubt that?”

“I was a little worried you weren’t there yet,” I admit.

“I’ve been there for a while. Possibly since the moment I laid my eyes on you.”

I kiss her lips. “I think it may be the same for me too.”

“What did he say?” she asks.

I lean back on the couch and bring her down with me, wrapping my arms around her.

“He said he still has his reservations, but that he doesn’t think it has to do with me. He said he thinks it’s more his issue of letting go, trusting you and your decisions, and being okay with knowing you're an adult now. He gave me his permission though.”

Her hands rest on my arm that’s lying across her chest.

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